'Clownish politics': Conservative slams GOP for failing to meet the moment

Conservative columnist George Will penned a scathing opinion for The Washington Post, taking the Republican Party to the shed for its "moronic, clownish politics" in the face of a new crop of global threats that require steady leadership.

"There is turmoil in the party that controls only one congressional chamber and cannot control itself," wrote Will, referring to the inability of the GOP to elect a new House speaker after ousting their original one. "The unfolding presidential campaign is doing nothing to elucidate intelligent responses to two regional wars abroad and fiscal incontinence at home."

Nor, Will wrote, is the House the only obstacle to confronting the threats America faces.

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"The war Hamas launched against the United States’ most important Middle East ally underscores a lesson from Ukraine: War remains a matter of mass — artillery, armor, air support. And much of the U.S. defense industrial base has atrophied. This cannot be rectified quickly," said Will. "One thing, however, can be. Senate rules, which allow maximum individual latitude, presuppose minimal maturity. To protest a Defense Department policy pertaining to abortion, a caricature — Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who says the three branches of government are 'the House, the Senate, and the executive' — is blocking confirmation of hundreds of senior military promotions. This, says [former Defense Secretary Robert] Gates, is 'making the United States a laughingstock among its adversaries.'"

And all the while, Will warned, former President Donald Trump, who appears to have the nomination all but wrapped up, continues to beat the drum of sympathy for Russia, and as his rivals like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis try to one-up him by promising a war in Mexico.

"In the world beyond Iowa and New Hampshire, events are turning and turning in a widening gyre," concluded Will. "Chaos, the métier of the Republican front-runner, is rising. Last week, the world spun into a new level of dangerousness. This coming week, any Republican aspirant worthy of the office she or he seeks will at last forthrightly stand against Trump’s siren call of isolationism."